Gentlemen....thanks for all your comments. I will try to respond to a couple of your questions.
Tophat....there are even more restrictive house rules for me than you mentioned. My opponent asked for a house rule banning ALL US bombers from CBI until June 1943. If I cant use my SEAC bombers in CBI, Im definitely going to use them in the DEI....I have to use then somewhere.
Japan was attempting to capture Palembang on 1-12-42. All Ive done with all the air war stuff is push their schedule back 3 weeks. If you dont draw a line in the sand and try to hold Java/Sumatra in January 1942 then you will be facing the Japanese in Noumea in March 1942. Lunga was taken 12/7/41. Port Moresby will be invaded tomorrow(1/29/42).
BlackSunshine...I just wanted to respond to your questions on the air war. As of 1/28/42 Japan has lost 1043 AC vs Allied 850 AC. Japan has lost 247 A6M2s.....116 A2A, 42 operational and 89 on the ground. The operational losses are a bit higher than normal due to my opponent flying frequent long range missions with little regard for fatigue or bad weather.
As far as the A2A, my opponent flies his bombers at 7000 ft so I imagine the escort is at 10,000 ft. My CAP has the P-40s at 20,000 ft and my Dutch fighters at around 30,000 ft. My hope here is that his escort will preferentially engage my P-40s while the Dutch fighters survive at higher altitudes to work over his bombers. When I watch the combat reports my Hawks seem to get butchered by the A6M2s but my Demons and Brewsters fare better. My 2 Demon squadrons have 25 kills between them and my 2 Hawk squadrons have 10 kills betweeen them. I even have a Brewster squadron with 8 kills that has been used almost exclusively in an escort role.
I think the turn that hurt Japan the most was 1/24/42. You can go back through this thread to read the combat replay but Japan sent 73 A6M2s from Kuching on bomber escort against Batavia (the Zeros surely must have been fatigued after hitting Palembang the day before) and lost 36 A6M2s in A2A. Then Japan took on AC replacements at Kuching so the A6M2s were sitting on the ground damaged and were dead meat for the B-17s.
Japan finally committed 2 CVs on 1/27/42 to strike the airfield at Singapore....they heavily damaged the airfield and destroyed 7 B-17s but lost 7 Kates/Vals.
Ive had 15 B-17s destroyed on the ground at Singapore the last 2 days and will probably lose another 6-7 there but it was worth the cost to slow down Japanese expansion for a couple of weeks.
SITUATION REPORT: 1-28-42
DEI/SINGAPORE:
Japanese transports continue to bear down on Palembang while their air force attempts to close the airfield at Singapore:
Day Air attack on Singapore , at 23,50
Japanese aircraft
Ki-27 Nate x 29
Ki-21 Sally x 58
Ki-48 Lily x 36
Allied aircraft
no flights
Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-21 Sally: 2 damaged
Ki-48 Lily: 3 damaged
Allied aircraft losses
B-17E Fortress: 4 destroyed
Catalina I: 1 destroyed
Allied ground losses:
69 casualties reported
Guns lost 1
Airbase hits 4
Airbase supply hits 7
Runway hits 51
Japan fails to fly CAP over their bombardment TFs at Palembang and the Dutch/British naval bombers make them pay:
Day Air attack on TF, near Palembang at 20,55
Allied aircraft
Swordfish x 8
Buffalo I x 2
T.IVa x 7
Martin 139 x 5
Beaufort V-IX x 21
Allied aircraft losses
Swordfish: 1 destroyed, 2 damaged
T.IVa: 2 damaged
Martin 139: 1 damaged
Beaufort V-IX: 12 damaged
Japanese Ships
CA Mogami
DD Kari
CA Mikuma, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
CA Takao, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
DD Amagiri
CL Jintsu
CA Atago
CA Suzuya
Day Air attack on TF, near Palembang at 20,55
Allied aircraft
Martin 139 x 3
Allied aircraft losses
Martin 139: 1 destroyed
Japanese Ships
BB Kirishima
An Allied bomber strike on the IJN CVs is unsuccessful:
Day Air attack on TF at 22,55
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 26
Allied aircraft
Brewster 339D x 2
Buffalo I x 13
Martin 139 x 9
Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged
Allied aircraft losses
Buffalo I: 4 destroyed
Martin 139: 7 damaged
Japanese Ships
CVE Hosho
CV Shokaku
CA Haguro
NEW GUINEA:
Japanese transports were spotted 2 days ago heading for Port Moresby. An Allied reinforcement TF was rushed north towards Port Moresby but was turned back south yesterday when an IJN Bombardment TF also heading to Port Moresby was spotted. Austarlian search planes never spotted any IJN CVs in the area but the Allied transports were ordered to disperse as they fled home just in case. 4 IJN CVs show up today and decimate the transports:
Day Air attack on TF at 48,95
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 9
D3A Val x 22
No Japanese losses
Allied Ships
AK Bengalen, Bomb hits 6, on fire, heavy damage
Allied ground losses:
58 casualties reported
Guns lost 4
Day Air attack on TF at 48,95
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 28
D3A Val x 8
B5N Kate x 9
No Japanese losses
Allied Ships
AK Johanne Justesen, Bomb hits 4, Torpedo hits 5, on fire, heavy
damage
Allied ground losses:
209 casualties reported
Day Air attack on TF at 48,95
Japanese aircraft
B5N Kate x 8
No Japanese losses
Allied Ships
AK Empire Peri, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
Allied ground losses:
100 casualties reported
Day Air attack on TF at 48,95
Japanese aircraft
D3A Val x 19
No Japanese losses
Allied Ships
AK Belawan, Bomb hits 6, on fire, heavy damage
Allied ground losses:
112 casualties reported
Guns lost 1
Day Air attack on TF at 48,95
Japanese aircraft
D3A Val x 19
B5N Kate x 21
No Japanese losses
Allied Ships
AK Meroendoeng, Bomb hits 8, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
Allied ground losses:
189 casualties reported
Day Air attack on TF at 48,95
Japanese aircraft
D3A Val x 19
B5N Kate x 21
No Japanese losses
Allied Ships
AK Ban Ho Guan, Bomb hits 13, on fire, heavy damage
Allied ground losses:
239 casualties reported
Day Air attack on TF at 48,95
Japanese aircraft
D3A Val x 22
B5N Kate x 24
No Japanese losses
Allied Ships
AK Soerabaja, Bomb hits 6, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
Allied ground losses:
143 casualties reported
Day Air attack on TF at 49,97
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 27
D3A Val x 7
No Japanese losses
Allied Ships
AP Van Neck, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
Allied ground losses:
44 casualties reported
Day Air attack on TF at 49,97
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 9
B5N Kate x 24
No Japanese losses
Allied Ships
MSW Bungaree, Torpedo hits 4, on fire, heavy damage
4 transports sink immediately and the rest will face the wrath of KB tomorrow.
An IJN bombardment TF hits Port Moresby again without CAP and the Australian torpedo bombers try to pay them back:
Day Air attack on TF, near Port Moresby at 53,91
Allied aircraft
Beaufort V-IX x 5
No Allied losses
Japanese Ships
CA Kako
CA Kinugasa
CA Aoba
Day Air attack on TF at 53,92
Allied aircraft
Beaufort V-IX x 3
No Allied losses
Japanese Ships
AP Tsuruga Maru
No hits on the IJN surface ships or transports(no hits yesterday from 21 Beauforts either).
The surviving Beauforts are withdrawn from Port Moresby as Japanese assault forces are expected to commence landings tomorrow.
